Dementia: Open Information Event

There was so much insight, tenderness and creativity last night at this information event. For those who were not there - I wish you could have been! I could write reams and reams about it. But you will be glad to know I won't. Here are a few reflections in the form of questions:

• how much are we yet to discover how well art and imagination can help people with dementia and their carers? 
• why do some people not talk about the early signs of dementia with their doctors and (perhaps) not get the help they need as soon as they need it?
• how many of us are so fearful of dementia to the extent that we just don't want to think about it, or raise money for research into it or even just acknowledge it in the people we love or meet in the street...?
• how come grandchildren are often the first the know but the last to be told?
• how do we help people with dementia most: by doing things for them or helping them to carry on doing things for themselves?
• have we forgotten how much we take our decision making for granted?
• when was the last time we forgot something important or have we forgotten when we did that?
• is creating a dementia friendly community all really just about creating a friendlier community where differences are appreciated and people are more considerate, kind and patient?
• what is going to take for us all to recognise this is an issue that cannot be swept under the carpet and we need to thinking about radical reforms of our social care system now? (And how are we going to pay for this?)

Big thanks to Eileen Winston for arranging this - and to all the speakers, contributors and all who came along!